<div>According to Manfred Frank, Gianni Vattimo is the man whose name occurs immediately to one and all when someone calls for the leading Italian philosopher and intellectual. While much of Vattimos work has been translated into English (he is perhaps best-known for the book The End of Modernity), there has been little critical reaction to this work. Finally, a volume of critical essays has become available in English with the publication of Weakening Philosophy: Essays in Honour of Gianni Vattimo. The volume is edited by Vattimos disciple Santiago Zabala, who also provides an ex-cellent introduction to Vattimo and his philosophy of weak thought (pensiero debole), containing much biographical background not previously available. The contributors are all distinguished philosophers and theologians in their own right, and among those well-known in the English-speaking world are Umberto Eco, Charles Taylor, Hugh J. Silverman, Reiner Schür-mann, Richard Rorty, Manfred Frank, and Jean-Luc Nancy. (Zabala ex-plains in his introduction that Jacques Derrida was also invited to be a part of this project, and was keen to write an essay for his friend Gianni, but was sadly prevented from doing so by his failing health (34)).</div>